Eight
394 Words
Security doors hissed open. Aria and Liam stepped out of the server room just as Ethan crossed the lobby floor. He looked different—drawn, pale, eyes flicking between them and the guards at the reception desk.
“Don’t,” Aria said quietly to Liam, who was already reaching for his phone. “Let him speak first.”
Ethan stopped a few steps away. Water dripped from his coat onto the marble. He held up the small metal drive.
“This,” he said, “is what they erased.”
Liam’s eyes narrowed. “You broke into my system to steal classified files?”
“You call it stealing,” Ethan shot back. “I call it saving proof before they wipe it again. Someone inside your board sold access to an offshore account last month. It links to the same shell company that funded the Lin scandal.”
Aria’s voice was calm, but her pulse quickened. “Then why hide the footage?”
“Because you’d never have believed me,” he said. “Not after what I did before.”
She studied him. “You think this makes you a hero?”
“No. Just not a coward.”
Liam took a step closer. “Who else knows you have this?”
Ethan hesitated, and that single heartbeat of silence told Aria enough—he wasn’t alone.
She said softly, “Someone sent me a message this morning. We saw you enter Chen Group. Was that you?”
Ethan shook his head. “No. That wasn’t me. Whoever’s behind this has people watching both of you.”
Liam’s phone buzzed. He glanced down. The screen lit with a new text from an unknown number:
Leave the drive where it is, or the next leak goes public.
He looked up at Aria. Their eyes met.
“They’re inside already,” she said.
Ethan pressed the drive into her hand. “Then you’d better find out what’s on it before they do.”
For a moment, no one moved. The rain outside started again, light and steady against the glass.
Then Aria slipped the drive into her pocket and said quietly, “Lock the building down.”
Liam gave the order. Security shutters began to close, one by one, sealing them inside.
Whatever was on that drive, it had just made them all targets.
- Writer
